Zheng Xiaosong (; September 1959 – 20 October 2018) was a Chinese politician and diplomat. He was Director of the

Macau Liaison Office The Macau Liaison Office, officially known as the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region ( (abbreviated: ); Portuguese: Gabinete de Ligação do Governo Central na RAEM) is the representative ...

, a ministerial-level position, until he fell to his death from his residence in October 2018. He formerly served as Deputy Director of the

International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party The International Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (ID; ), better known as the International Liaison Department (ILD), is an agency under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of establ ...

, Vice Governor of

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

Province, and secretary-general of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP). Zheng was a member of the

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

and a delegate to the

13th National People's Congress The 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China was elected from October 2017 to February 2018 and will be in session in the five-year period from 2018 to 2023. It is scheduled to hold five sessions in this period, occurri ...

Life and career

Zheng was born in September 1959 in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. He graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

with a degree in Norwegian language, and received diplomatic training at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1996 to 1997. (Note: Google translates this title as 'Zheng Xiaosong, director of the Macau Liaison Office, crashed into a high-frequency word') For most of his career Zheng served in diplomatic and international finance positions, including first-grade secretary of the Western Europe Bureau of the

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...

, Director of the International Department of the

Chinese Ministry of Finance The Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China () is the constituent department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China which administers macroeconomic policies and the annual budget. It also handles fiscal policy, ...

, Assistant Finance Minister, and Chinese Executive Director of the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

. Zheng was promoted to major political posts after Party General Secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

came to power in 2012. He was appointed Vice Governor of

Province in July 2013, and later became a member of the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

and secretary-general of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 2016, Zheng was transferred back to Beijing to serve as Deputy Director of the

. A month before the

19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party The 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (commonly referred to as ''Shíjiǔ Dà''; ) was held at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, between 18 and 24 October 2017. 2,280 delegates represented the party's estimated 89 mill ...

(CCP), he was promoted to Director of the

, a ministerial-level position in charge of relations between the central government and the

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Special Administrative Region. He was elected as a member of the 19th Central Committee of the CCP.

Death

On 20 October 2018, Zheng died in Macau after falling from a tall building where he lived. He was 59. The

Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency of the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for promoting cooperation and coordination of political, economic and cultural ties betwe ...

in Beijing issued a statement saying that he had suffered from depression, with the implication that he had committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. On Chinese social media many expressed concern and sadness about his depression, but others noted that at least 7 other Chinese officials have fallen from buildings this year, with one injured and at least 6 dead. Although there is no evidence that Zheng was suspected of corruption, in recent years hundreds of mid-level Chinese officials accused of corruption have died, reportedly by suicide, although observers have doubted such accounts. Agencies contributed to this report.

Allegation related to visit by Xi Jinping

Zheng died just days before the 23 October opening of the

Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZMB) is a bridge–tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest open-sea fixe ...

, the world's longest sea crossing linking Macau and Hong Kong. Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, convener of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

's Independent Commentators Association, claimed that in order to avoid speculation that might disturb Party General Secretary

's visit for the opening of the bridge, Beijing had been too quick to conclude that Zheng had died while suffering from depression, a conclusion they announced even before the completion of the investigation by the Macao police. Such reported suicides have been much more common during Xi's

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...

than during that of his predecessor

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which announced that his death had been due to depression, has been investigated for corruption since 2016 by the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the par ...

and criticized by it for its "six sins", and other Hong Kong and Macao official organizations have also been suspected of corruption.

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zheng, Xiaosong 1959 births 2018 deaths People's Republic of China politicians from Beijing Chinese Communist Party politicians from Beijing University of Oslo alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Chinese diplomats Deaths from falls Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Political office-holders in Fujian Political office-holders in Macau Chinese politicians who committed suicide